Coloring Rice

 I mentioned in my last post that I'd like to use colored rice for iSpy bottles for my scouts.  The motivation hit and I got to it.  I made about 20 different colors using both regular and neon food coloring.

My supplies: two plastic cups, teaspoon measure, 1 cup measure, rice, food coloring, rubbing alcohol.  Not shown: plastic spoon.

 Add 1 teaspoon of alcohol to the cup, followed by 20-30 drops of food coloring.  If you're mixing two or three different colors, give the cup a little swirl; the color on the side of the cup post swirl will be the shade you end up with.  Add the rice last.

 Stir it all up, folding from the bottom to the top to get the color uniform throughout.  I like to dump the rice into another cup after I've mixed for a minute or so.  The darker colored rice that inevitably gets stuck on the bottom will come to the top for more uniform mixing of the rest of the rice.

 Spread it onto a plate or plastic container you aren't too attached to to dry.  I like to give it a little shake every half hour or so to break up the clumps.  It should be dry in about two hours, and the color won't transfer onto your fingers.

Just a few of the colors!

I'm storing the rice in plastic bags until I'm ready to use it.  I need to find a jar big enough to mix together about half of each color to use for our iSpy bottles.  


Due to the messy nature and that food coloring stains just about everything, I don't recommend having your cubs mix their own colors.  I made mine one cup at a time in various shades to give them enough choices if and when we do a project with single colors.  I'm thinking rice art instead of sand art jars, letting them make pictures by gluing down the colored rice like you would glitter.  You can work this in to the art electives, art belt loop, artist activity badge...the possibilities are endless!


Until next time,


CubMom  

A Quick and Easy iSpy Bottle

This is a project I did with my kids a while back.  I usually like to test out project ideas on my own kids and some of their friends to get an idea of how easy or hard, where they need extra help or instruction, and how long I can expect it to take.  This particular project turned out to be a little messier than I'd hoped, so I haven't done this with scouts yet.  I think I've come up with an alternative though that will work and I'll use it in this scouting year.


I've been saving empty plastic bottles for this craft.  16oz. or 20oz. are a good size.  Try to get ones that don't have a lot of indents in the design of the bottle, and clear plastic works best.  Target brand sparkling water has a nice bottle, and Coke bottles work nicely too.

I gathered up a bunch of little items I had laying around in my supply drawers.  Sequins, shaped buttons, alphabet beads, pony beads, pretty much anything you can fit through the top of the bottle will work.  You can see I used items that float, as well as items that sink.  Pour a generous amount of regular round sequins in the bottom of the bottle, about 1/2" high.  Then add all of your other pieces in no particular order.  Finally, fill the bottle half full with water and fill it the rest of the way with clear corn syrup (the messy part).  You need to fill it as high as you can to eliminate any air in the bottle.  Put the lid on as tight as you possibly can.  You can even glue the cap to the bottle.  When shaken up, everything mixes together and your kids can play a game to find various objects.

All shaken up.  Can you find a pair of sunglasses?

Since the whole water/corn syrup proved to be pretty messy, I'm going to use colored rice when I do this with the scouts.  You can make your own by mixing several drops of food coloring with a teaspoon of rubbing alcohol per cup of dried rice.  Make sure to let it dry for several hours before storing.

Until next time,

CubMom

Cub Scout Obstacle Course

Did you see the article a month or two back in Family Fun magazine about using pool noodles to make outdoor games?  I used that article as the basis to make an obstacle course out of pool noodles, duct tape, and wooden dowels.  I bought 45 pool noodles from the dollar store, had the duct tape on hand, and bought 2 bags of 12" dowels and four 36" dowels from the craft store.  It was a little bit of an investment, about $60, but I won't have to remake it every year, and I was able to give the components to our PE teacher to use for gym classes (which means I don't have to store it either!), and can use it when I need it going forward.


Here is a shot of the entire course.  Obstacles are broken down below.

 Javelin Throw

 "Tire" run

 These were supposed to be hurdles, but the boys ended up crawling under them instead!

 Not a good angle, but this was a set up in a zig zag

 I cut a noodle in half to make a ring toss

 and ended the course with a ball toss, using two noodles taped together to make the ring.

This actually kept them busy for close to an hour.  They wanted to go through over and over again!  I spent maybe an hour or two assembling everything, and then getting it all set up outside, so I definitely think it was time well spent.  


Until next time,


CubMom